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Leaders from Korea, China, Japan, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand definitively sign the ‘Alseph Agreement’
15 countries participated in the launch of the world’s largest FTA … Effect of the ‘China-Japan FTA’
15 countries including Korea sign the RCEP Agreement ‘World’s Largest FTA’ = President Moon Jae-in attended and signed the ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement’, the largest free trade agreement (FTA) of the world held at the Blue House on the 15th. I am taking a commemorative photo with Myung-hee Myung-hee, the head of the trade negotiations headquarters. 2020.11.15 Yonhap News
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP, hereinafter referred to as Alseph), the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA) involving 15 countries, including Korea, China, Japan and ASEAN, has finally been concluded eight years after the start of negotiations. The Korea-Japan FTA and the China-Japan FTA were recently signed, resulting in the opening of markets for industrial products, agricultural products, services and investments. India is still out and the deal is launched and put into effect. The government said: “The two countries have decided to open 83% of all items to avoid a further increase in our trade stance with Japan.” “Sensitive items such as automobiles and machinery are excluded from the tariff concession, and other items made in Japan entering our market. The period for the elimination of import tariffs was also established for a long period of 10-20 years to protect our industry. ”President Moon Jae-in and 10 other ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, etc. The Cha Alsep summit was held and the agreement was finally signed. The agreement covers a total of 15,000 pages, including 20 chapters (products, services, investments, country of origin, etc.) and various annexes. The Alsep Agreement is the The world’s largest free trade agreement and represents approximately 30% of the world in terms of regional trade volume ($ 5.4 trillion), gross regional product (GDP, $ 26.3 trillion) and regional population (2.26 billion s of people). be be. It is larger than the North American Free Trade Agreement (USMCA, 3 countries) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Economic Partnership Agreement of the Pacific Basin (CPTPP, 11 countries). India declared him absent from the negotiations last year, leaving him for the first time in the agreement and signing. By economic bloc, Korea’s exports amounted to $ 269 billion (50% of total exports in 2019), much more than the T-MEC ($ 88.8 billion) and CPTPP ($ 126 billion). The government said: “It is expected to contribute greatly to expanding our export market and diversifying our business structure in the future.” The most obvious thing about this Alcep agreement for Korean industries and companies is that the ‘Korea-Japan FTA’ has the effect of being signed for the first time. For us, Japan is the number one country with chronic trade deficits ($ 19.63 billion in 2019). At Alcep, our market opening targets (including deferred or excluded ones) are 12,243 in total (approximately 80% of industrial products), both industrial and agricultural products. There are 9091 in Japan. Of the total number of items, the items that promised tariff concessions (immediately or elimination for up to 20 years) were 83% the same in both countries. By looking at the content of our tariff concessions for each participating country in Alcep, we apply a common level to the 10 ASEAN countries and take this common draft as a basis, but we differ from other countries such as Japan and China in considering sensitive elements. with the other country. to have. It goes through the process of inserting and subtracting items and periods of tariff relief during the exchange between the two countries. We did not open up the automobile market to Japan, rather Japan excluded our promising agricultural products, such as kimchi and paprika, from opening. A government official said: “We demand and approve of the Japanese side, saying: ‘We have a serious commitment to Japan and Japan has export regulations, so in terms of the amount of imports, Japan should grant more tariffs.’ For sensitive items such as automobiles and machinery, the market opening is subtracted from the market opening, and the step-by-step relief period in our market is long (10 years, 15 years, 20 years), or the current rate is maintained for a long period of time and then largely concessioned entirely. “We use the method (called ‘non-linear abolition’) to protect our industry.” It means that a balance of mutual interests has been achieved. Regarding the level of tariff elimination between the two countries, in terms of imports, Japan gave us 2 percentage points (76% in Korea, 78% in Japan), and in industrial products, Japan occupied 2.4 percentage points in terms of number of articles (Korea 91.7%, Japan 94.1%). ) Additional fees have been eliminated. We have a higher proportion of long-term abolition (more than 10 years) than Japan (41.6% in Korea, 17.1% in Japan), especially in 20 years (455 in Korea, 2 in Japan) and non-linear abolition (105 in Korea, not Japan). Used much more. With the conclusion of the Alsep, there has also been the effect of the signing of the FTA between China and Japan. China and Japan promised 86% of all trade items in both countries for market opening. It is slightly above the level of liberalization of market opening between Korea and Japan. With the Korea-China FTA in place, Korean companies and industries are well aware of the competitive export relationship between Korea, China and Japan due to the opening of the market. Since 2013, the government has been negotiating 16 times to conclude an official FTA between Korea, China and Japan. A government official explained: “While Korea, China and Japan are discussing an FTA, within this framework of Alcept, we agreed to conclude at a fairly low level, excluding sensitive elements between the three countries.” Compared to the existing ‘ASEAN-Korea FTA’ (in effect in 2007), Alsep increased the market opening level to 92 ~ 94.5% (based on the number of items) by eliminating the tariffs for 1,000 items each. The opening of the Korean, Chinese and Japanese markets is less. The items that our industry will benefit from exports by jointly opening the market of the participating countries of Alsep include passenger cars, trucks, auto parts, car engines, steel products, synthetic resins, tires, ball bearings, machine parts. , refrigerators, washing machines, cotton yarn, clothing, washing machines. Supplies, apples, pears, strawberries, beer, green tea, seaweed (dried), canned seafood, and yellowfin tuna (frozen) are mentioned. Most of the current tariff rates range from 5 to 40%. On the other hand, the main agricultural and marine products that we open (current tariff of 30-50%) are tropical fruits (durian, papaya, guava, mangosteen, lemon, etc.) and beverages (beer, pineapple juice, etc.) , but the tariff is zero (0%). Most of the abolition period was set as long-term (10 years later). In the case of agricultural, aquatic and forestry products, key sensitive items (rice, garlic, bell pepper, onion, bell pepper, frozen pollock, etc.) and important sensitive items with large imports (pineapple, frozen shrimp, frozen squid, live dome, live defense, etc.) Excluded from protected. The government said: “For some open items in agricultural and fishery products, we have reduced the damage to Korean agricultural and fishery products by minimizing the cut of tariffs or ensuring a sufficient period of tariff elimination.” The Alsep Agreement will enter into force 60 days after 6 out of 10 ASEAN countries and 3 out of 5 non-ASEAN countries undergo the national parliamentary consent and ratification process. However, countries that have not ratified it will not enter into force. By Jo Gye-wan, Staff Reporter [email protected]
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